India is known for its rich culture and heritage. The several traditions and culture of India are still being followed and passed on to generations, no wonder due to the heritage. It is a land of cultural and traditional festivals,and one can observe that there is one or another festival every single month. Given the secular nature of country and diversity with religions, languages, culture groups and castes, India is always filled with several festivals in line for celebrations. Every religion has one or another festival to celebrate every month.
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Significance
Every festival celebrated by people all across different religions and cultures has uniqueness and beliefs behind the festival. There arevital importance and history for every festival and celebration followed. Hence the Indians celebrate each of the festivals with passion and hope. Given the unity in diversity nature of Indian subcontinent, religions like Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikh, Jains, Buddhists and so on celebrate the festival at the regional level. Here are few of the festivals into these categories of religion.
Hindu Festivals
Given the majority of Hindus living in India, there are several festivals and celebrations from all over people in this religion. It is considered as oldest religion and is also seen as third largest religion in the world. Every celebration hence has rituals to be followed,and there is worshipping deities, fasting, feasting, Aarti and so on within these. These festivals are generally celebrated by uniting with family and relatives together for following tradition and pujas.
The dates of festivals are generally as per the Hindu calendar, lunar calendar,and sun, moon movements in the year. It is celebrated as per historical mythology and keeping seasons in mind. There are beliefs of these festivals as per various ancient sculptures such as Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana and Mahabharata and the sacred texts like Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda,andAtharva Veda. Below is a list of the Hindu festivals.
Lohri Jan 13
Makar Sankranthi Jan 14 (generally same date)
Pongal Jan 15
Vasant Panchami February
Thaipusam End of January
Maha Shivaratri March beginning
HolikaDahan March mid to end
Holi March mid to end
Chaitra Navratri April beginning to mid
Ugadi/tamil new year/Vishu April beginning to mid
Gangaur March late to april beginning
Mewar festival April beginnings
Ram Navami April mid
Mahavir Jayanti April mid
Hanuman Jayanti April mid
RathYatra July beginning
Guru Purnima July mid
Onam September
RakshaBandhan August mid to end
Janmastami August end
Ramlila September
Ganesh Chaturdhi September mid to end
PitrPaksh September mid
Rambarat September end
Sharad Navratra September end
Dussehra October beginning to mid
Valmiki Jayanti October mid
Kava Chauth October mid
Dhanteras October end
Diwali October end to anytime before Nov mid
Bhai Dhuj October end
Chhath Puja November
Muslim Festivals
Muslim and Islamic festivals are celebrated enthusiastically all over the country. There are several festivals,and they celebrate it with dedication and passion. The important festivals include Ramzan, Id, Bakrid and so on. They offer prayers especially in mosque and feast with their friends and family. Their homes are well decorated and celebrated till night. Islam founded by Muhammad inthe 7th century is the second largest religion in the world. The important pillars of Islam includeShahadan (Faith), Salah (Prayer), Zakah (Donate), Sawm (Fasting) and Hajj (pilgrimage). Their festivals include,
Barawafat November
Giaravahin Sharif December end
Hazarat Ali Birthday March-end
Shah F Miraj April
Shab e Barat April end to May
JamatUl Vida June
Id ulFitr June
Bakrid August
Muharram September
Sikh Festivals
India given the number of religions and cultures it has, there are several from Sikh religion with unique rituals and festivals. They commemorate the lives of Sikh Gurus and their teachings, celebrate with enthusiasm and enjoyment. The Sikhs worship as per the holy book, ‘the Guru Granth Sahib’ which was compiled by the Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak and edited later by Guru Arjan. The festivals also involve deity among people placing and taking out in a palanquin in public processions. It includes music, songs,and readings from the holy book. They also sing Gurbani songs. There are also some of the Hindu festivals celebrated by Sikhs due to different other reasons. The festivals of Sikhs include the following.
Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti January mid
Lohri January 13-14
Holla Mohalla March end
SodalMela September
Guru Ramdass Ji Birthday October 9th
Guru Nanak Jayanti November
Jains festivals
Those from the Jain religion also has several rituals and ceremonies to celebrate every year. They generally do idol worships in different ways and celebrate as per life events of Tirthankara which involves and mentions on purification of the soul. Generally, Jain rituals are divided into two types, Karya and Kriya. There are six essential duties to be performed by them called as Six Avashyakas, namely, ‘Chaturvishnatistava,’ ‘Kayotsarga,’ ‘Pratikramana,’ ‘Pratyakhyana,’ ‘Samyika’ and ‘Vandan.’ These are seen as life lessons teaching about respecting elders, practicing serenity and mediation, expiation of past sins, mediation, renunciation and so on. They have six duties as per Jain Digambara, namely, Dana, Devapuja, Guru upashti, Sanyam, Swadhyaya,and Tapa. They are key ritual activities which include respecting teachers, controlling self, studying spiritual texts and austerities.
The festivals by Jains include
Deep Diwali November mid
Mahamastak Abhishek February mid
Mahavir Jayanti March end
Paryushan August end
Christian Festivals
Given that the country is a destination for several varied cultures, people of Christianity are into the third largest religion in the country. They celebrate their festivals like Christmas, Easter,and Good Friday with enthusiasm and family gatherings. It is common that they include people from other religions too in their celebrations thus proving the unity in diversity of the country. Their churches are well decorated for prayers and processions during the festivals. The list of Christian festivals including
Good Friday March end
Easter April
Christmas December 25th every year
Buddhist Festivals
The religious celebrations of those from Buddhism are well connected to their Lord Buddha and Bodhisattvas. Lord Budha has started the religion and advised his followers to be connected as a family in order to keep their bond intact. Their beliefs and rituals are through worshipping historical objects. Their festivals include
Losar February beginning
Buddha Purnima 22 May
HemisGompa June mid
Ullambaa August mid
Given above are the list of Festivals of India. Given the different religions and cultures, no wonder India is seen as a land of diverse customs and traditions. These festivals are well celebrated with passion, enthusiasm, beliefs,and rituals. The family and close friends gather together and celebrate them with faith and love.